Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a promising technology for flat-panel displays and area illumination lamps. The technology relies upon thin-film layers of organic or inorganic materials coated upon a substrate. Organic LED devices generally can have two formats known as small molecule devices such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,292, issued Oct. 9, 1984 to Ham et al., and polymer OLED devices such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,190, issued Sep. 21, 1993 to Friend et al. Alternatively, inorganic LED devices are known that employ quantum dots. Either type of LED device may include, in sequence, at least an anode, a light-emitting layer (EML), a cathode and an EL element. The EL element disposed between the anode and the cathode may also include a hole-injection layer (HIL), a hole-transporting layer (HTL), a hole-blocking layer, an electron-injection layer (EIL), an electron-transporting layer (ETL), and an electron-blocking layer. Holes and electrons recombine and emit light in the EL layer. Tang et al. (Applied Physics Letter, 51, 913 (1987), Journal of Applied Physics, 65, 3610 (1989), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,292) demonstrated highly efficient OLEDs using such a layer structure. Since then, numerous LEDs with alternative layer structures, including organic or polymeric materials, or inorganic materials, have been disclosed and device performance has improved.
Light is generated in an LED device when electrons and holes that are injected from the cathode and anode, respectively, flow through the electron transport layer (ETL) and the hole transport layer (HTL) and recombine in the emissive layer (EML). Many factors determine the efficiency of this light generating process. For example, the selection of anode and cathode materials can determine how efficiently the electrons and holes are injected into the device; the selection of ETL and HTL can determine how efficiently the electrons and holes are transported in the device, and the selection of EML can determine how efficiently the electrons and holes are recombined for the emission of light.
LED devices can employ a variety of light-emitting materials patterned over a substrate that emit light of a variety of different frequencies, for example, red, green, and blue, to create a full-color display. However, patterned deposition is difficult, requiring, for example, expensive metal masks. Alternatively, it is known to employ a combination of emitters, or an unpatterned broad-band emitter to emit white light together with patterned color filters, for example, red, green, and blue, to create a full-color display. The color filters may be located on the substrate, for a bottom-emitter, or on the cover, for a top-emitter. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,340, issued May 21, 2002 to Yoneda et al., illustrates such a device. However, such designs are relatively inefficient, since approximately two-thirds of the light emitted may be absorbed by the color filters.
It has been found that one of the key factors that limits the efficiency of LED devices is the inefficiency in extracting the photons generated by the electron-hole recombination out of the LED devices. Due to the relatively high optical indices of the EML and transparent electrode materials used, most of the photons generated by the recombination process are actually trapped in the devices due to total internal reflection. These trapped photons never leave the LED devices and make no contribution to the light output from these devices. Because light is emitted in all directions from the internal layers of the LED, some of the light emits directly from the device, and some is emitted into the device and is either reflected back out or is absorbed, and some of the light is emitted laterally and trapped and absorbed by the various layers comprising the device. In general, up to 80% of the light may be lost in this manner.
A typical LED device uses a glass substrate, a transparent conducting anode such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO), a stack of organic or inorganic layers, and a reflective cathode layer. Light generated from such a device may be emitted through the glass substrate. This is commonly referred to as a bottom-emitting device. Alternatively, an LED device can include a substrate, a reflective anode, a stack of organic layers, and a top transparent cathode layer. Light generated from such an alternative device may be emitted through the top transparent electrode. This is commonly referred to as a top-emitting device. In typical organic devices, the index of the ITO layer, the organic layers, and the glass is about 2.0, 1.7, and 1.5 respectively. It has been estimated that nearly 60% of the generated light is trapped by internal reflection in the ITO/organic EL element, 20% is trapped in the glass substrate, and only about 20% of the generated light is actually emitted from the device and performs useful functions.
In any of these LED structures, the problem of trapped light remains. Referring to FIG. 9a, a bottom-emitting LED device as known in the prior art is illustrated having a substrate 10 (in this case transparent), a transparent first electrode 12, one or more layers of light-emitting material 14, a reflective second electrode 16, a gap 19 and a cover 20. First electrode 12, the one or more layers of light-emitting material 14, and reflective second electrode 16 form a light-emitting EL element. The gap 19 is typically filled with desiccating material. Light emitted from one of the material layers 14 can be emitted directly out of the device, through the transparent substrate 10, as illustrated with light ray 1. Light may also be emitted and internally guided in the transparent substrate 10 and material layers 14, as illustrated with light ray 2. Additionally, light may be emitted and internally guided in the layers of material 14, as illustrated with light ray 3. Light rays 4 emitted toward the reflective electrode 16 are reflected by the reflective first electrode 12 toward the substrate 10 and follow one of the light ray paths 1, 2, or 3. In some prior-art embodiments, the electrode 16 may be opaque and/or light absorbing. The bottom-emitter embodiment shown may also be implemented in a top-emitter configuration with a transparent cover and top electrode.
A variety of techniques have been proposed to improve the out-coupling of light from thin-film light-emitting devices. For example, diffraction gratings have been proposed to control the attributes of light emission from thin polymer films by inducing Bragg scattering of light that is guided laterally through the Emissive Layers. See “Modification Of Polymer Light Emission By Lateral Microstructure” by Safonov et al., Synthetic Metals 116, 2001, pp. 145-148, and “Bragg Scattering From Periodically Microstructured Light Emitting Diodes” by Lupton et al., Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 77, No. 21, Nov. 20, 2000, pp. 3340-3342. Brightness enhancement films having diffractive properties and surface and volume diffusers are described in WO2002/037568 entitled, “Brightness and Contrast Enhancement of Direct View Emissive Displays” by Chou et al., published May 10, 2002. The use of micro-cavity techniques is also known; for example, see “Sharply Directed Emission In Organic Electroluminescent Diodes With Optical-Microcavity Structure” by Tsutsui et al., Applied Physics Letters 65, No. 15, Oct. 10, 1994, pp. 1868-1870. However, none of these approaches cause all, or nearly all, of the light produced to be emitted from the device.
Chou, in WO2002/037580 and Liu et al. in U.S. Patent Publication 2001/0026124, taught the use of a volume or surface scattering layer to improve light extraction. The scattering layer is applied next to the organic layers or on the outside surface of the glass substrate and has an optical index that matches these layers. Light emitted from the OLED device at higher than a critical angle that would have otherwise been trapped can penetrate into the scattering layer and be scattered out of the device. The efficiency of the OLED device is thereby improved, but still has deficiencies as explained below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,796 entitled, “Organic Electroluminescent Display Device And Method Of Manufacturing The Same”, issued Sep. 7, 2004 to Do et al., describes an organic electroluminescent (EL) display device and a method of manufacturing the same. The organic EL device includes a substrate layer, a first electrode layer formed on the substrate layer, an organic layer formed on the first electrode layer, and a second electrode layer formed on the organic layer, wherein a light-loss preventing layer having different refractive index areas is formed between layers of the organic EL device having a large difference in refractive index among the respective layers. U.S. Publication 2004/0217702 entitled, “Light Extracting Designs For Organic Light Emitting Diodes”, published Nov. 4, 2004 by Garner et al., similarly discloses use of microstructures to provide internal refractive index variations or internal or surface physical variations that function to perturb the propagation of internal waveguide modes within an LED. Garner et al. discloses the use of an index-matched polymer adjacent the encapsulating cover for a top-emitter embodiment.
Light-scattering layers, used externally to an OLED device, are described in U.S. Publication 2005/0018431 entitled, “Organic Electroluminescent Devices Having Improved Light Extraction”, published Jan. 27, 2005, by Shiang and U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,837, issued Sep. 21, 1999, by Horikx, et al. These disclosures describe and define properties of scattering layers located on a substrate in detail. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,871, issued Aug. 17, 2004, by Duggal et al., describes the use of an output coupler comprising a composite layer having specific refractive indices and scattering properties. While useful for extracting light, this approach will only extract light that propagates in the substrate (illustrated with light ray 2), and will not extract light that propagates only through the organic layers and electrodes (illustrated with light ray 3).
However, scattering techniques, by themselves, may cause light to pass through the light-absorbing material layers multiple times where they are absorbed and converted to heat. Moreover, trapped light may propagate a considerable distance horizontally through the cover, substrate, or organic layers before being scattered out of the device, thereby reducing the sharpness of the device in pixelated applications such as displays. For example, a pixelated bottom-emitting LED device may include a plurality of independently controlled sub-pixels (as shown in FIG. 9b) and a light-scattering layer 22 located on the substrate 10. A light ray 2, 3, or 4 emitted from the light-emitting layer 22 may be scattered multiple times by the scattering layer 22, while traveling through the substrate 10, organic layer(s) 14, and transparent first electrode 12 before it is emitted from the device. When the light ray 2, 3, or 4 is finally emitted from the device, the light ray 2, 3, or 4 may have traveled a considerable distance through the various device layers from the original sub-pixel location where it originated to a remote sub-pixel where it is emitted, thus reducing sharpness. Most of the lateral travel occurs in the substrate 10, because that is by far the thickest layer in the package. Also, the amount of light emitted is reduced due to absorption of light in the various layers.
U.S. Patent Publication 2004/0061136 entitled, “Organic Light Emitting Device Having Enhanced Light Extraction Efficiency” by Tyan et al., describes an enhanced light extraction OLED device that includes a light-scattering layer. In certain embodiments, a low-index isolation layer (having an optical index substantially lower than that of the organic electroluminescent element) is employed adjacent to a reflective layer in combination with the light scattering layer to prevent low angle light from striking the reflective layer, and thereby minimize absorption losses due to multiple reflections from the reflective layer. The particular arrangements, however, may still result in reduced sharpness of the device.
Materials for forming the transparent electrode of top-emitting displays are well known in the art and include transparent conductive oxides (TCO's), such as indium tin oxide (ITO); thin layers of metal, such as Al, having a thickness on the order of 20 nm; and conductive polymers such as polythiophene. However, many electrode materials that are transparent, such as ITO, have low conductivity, which results in a voltage drop across the display. This in turn causes variable light output from the light emitting elements in the display, resistive heating, and power loss. Resistance can be lowered by increasing the thickness of the top electrode, but this decreases transparency.
One proposed solution to this problem is to use an auxiliary electrode above or below the transparent electrode layer and located between the pixels, as taught by US2002/0011783, published Jan. 31, 2002, by Hosokawa. The auxiliary electrode is not required to be transparent and therefore can be of a higher conductivity than the transparent electrode. The auxiliary electrode is typically constructed of conductive metals (Al, Ag, Cu, Au) that are also highly reflective. This results in incident light reflecting off the auxiliary electrode and thereby reducing the overall contrast ratio of the display. This makes the display less effective for use under high ambient light conditions, such as outdoors under bright sunshine.
As taught in issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,812,637 entitled, “OLED Display with Auxiliary Electrode” by Cok, an auxiliary electrode may be provided between the light-emitting areas of the LED to improve the conductivity of the transparent electrode 16 and enhance the current distribution to the LED. For example, a thick, patterned layer of aluminum or silver or other metals or metal alloys may be employed. However, such an arrangement does not improve the distribution of current within light-emitting areas. For devices, such as area illumination lamps that are expected to have large, light-emitting areas, such a solution is helpful but may not be adequate.
Commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 11/387,489, filed Mar. 23, 2006, describes a multi-layer composite electrode for a light-emitting device, comprising: a transparent, conductive layer; a reflective, conductive layer in electrical contact with the transparent, conductive layer; and a light-scattering layer formed between the transparent, conductive layer and the reflective, conductive layer over only a first portion of the transparent, conductive layer, wherein the light-scattering layer is relatively less conductive than the reflective, conductive layer and the reflective, conductive layer is in electrical contact with the transparent, conductive layer over a second portion of the transparent, conductive layer where the light-scattering layer is not formed. Also disclosed is a method of making such a multi-layer composite electrode in a light emitting device, and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device comprising such a composite electrode. However, this solution likewise does not improve the distribution of current within the light-emitting area.
As taught in the prior art, light is trapped in the light-emitting layers of an LED device. The employment of a light-scattering layer on the substrate or cover of an LED device, as taught in the prior art, does not address this problem. Moreover, these prior-art LED devices require a transparent electrode having limited conductivity that further reduces light output and decreases the uniformity of the light output. Prior-art solutions such as auxiliary electrodes above or below a transparent electrode do not address the problem of conductivity within a light-emitting area.